su.per /ˈso͞opər/ (noun): 1. A person who shows exceptional ability or powers. 2. (Of a person who uses powers) a superhero or super villain. Xander Mendez wants nothing more than to be a superhero. Like, who wouldn't want to save their city with extraordinary superpowers? Trevor Rossi wants nothing more than to be like his father. A powerful figure with the city under his fingertips. April Watson wants nothing more than to be seen as something more than a damsel. She wants to be more than a powerless girl surrounded by righteous heroes. Celeste Moctezuma wants nothing more than to live with her career path without a certain pesky hero getting in her way. Four people all connected in a city renowned for its legendary supers. When their lives start turning into the plot of an A-list superhero movie, things go crazy. Suddenly Kingdom City has a new superhero and many new villains on their hands. Sometimes superheroes only make the world more complicated.

Chapter One of a story I started. I'm only posting chapter one to get some feedback so I can see what works and what doesn't. It was a normal assignment: "parent" an egg for two weeks to learn about responsibility. For Kyle, however, the end of the assignment brings about a whole new beginning.

Magic caused the war. Magic is forbidden. Magic will save us. The Relic Guild is the award nominated first book in The Relic Guild trilogy. It was said the Labyrinth had once been the great meeting place, a sprawling city at the heart of an endless maze where a million humans hosted the Houses of the Aelfir. But when the Thaumaturgists, overlords of human and Aelfir alike, went to war, everything was ruined and the Labyrinth became an abandoned prison. The surviving humans were trapped behind boundary walls a hundred feet high, and all magic was forbidden. And now the war is returning. The Relic Guild are all that stand against the end of the city. But they are old, scattered and weak, and the enemy is growing in strength... Here in THE RELIC GUILD (and other stories) please enjoy a large chunk of The Relic Guild Trilogy (published with kind permission of my publisher Gollancz), complete short stories, the odd poem, one or two blog posts, and samples chapters from my other novels.

For shop girl Evin, alchemy is an understood part of life. She learned how to brew superior potions at a young age and can't imagine her life without the use of Alertness, For General Pain, and Menstrual Cramp Cure. Though already apprenticed to a local master alchemist, she can't help feeling that there might be more for her to achieve. In a different part of the continent, Master Bricot teaches alchemy at the University of Craestor and is working feverishly at his residency project--translating the sacred document The Facerum--when a student of his approaches him seeking help on an unprecedented issue. And south of Craestor in Daitak Capital, the Seat of the World, Emperor Regent Bryn Beynon can't stand potions or those who make and sell them, believing their use, especially martially, to be barbaric and cruel. His first act when coming of age will be to begin imposing legal strictures on the use and sale of such items. Out in the Wilds of Tief, Craix, who travels alone, has never been safe. Not since she was born. Forever trying to evade her pursuers, she travels across the country, constantly intercepting important messages. And over all people in the realm of Heladrith, a pantheon of powerful gods sits in judgement and benevolence, silent for centuries--but not for much longer. Potent is an original, third-person omniscient, past-tense, low fantasy tale with an ensemble cast of approximately eight characters of different genders, orientations, colors, and classes. --Seeking beta readers for this manuscript! Please comment and leave feedback!--